Door for refrigerator cars



Oct. 7, 1952 Filed June 10, 1946 A. F; OCONNOR DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 m N a g f: I M N 1--N I i E -r l Q I i 3: IL 1 N W I ,l? E 1' m x m; y Q {is Q1 -fi: K J R w l k g x Li:

A. F. OCONNOR DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Oct. 7, .1952

Filed June 10, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 lllllllllllllllllllllll L,

I M Q 'quiring an accurate fit in the opening;

Patented Oct. 7, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT fo -"Flee DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Arthur F. O'Connor, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Union Asbestos, & Rubber Company, a corporation of Illinois Application June 10, 1946, Serial No. 675,585

1 Claim. (01. -23) has become necessary to increase the insulating I value of the car walls and doors. In many instances thicknesses of from seven to ten inches are used. To avoid restricting the size of the lading compartment the wall thickness has generally been added to the outside and this has re- I sulted in bringing the total exterior width or the car very close to the maximum permitted by clearance limits, leaving very little space outside of the car for fixtures or fittings tohold and operate the door., At the same time, the increased door thickness has required asubstantial horizontal movement of thejdoor'away-irom the car to clear the door opening. R

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a door for refrigerator cars in which the natures and fittings supporting the doorproe ject a minimum distance beyond the car wall when the door is closed and yet which provide adequate movement of the door to clear the open- Another object is to provide a door slidably supported on tracks which are movable toward and away from a car wall. Accordingto one feature thetracks are carried by levers pivoted on the car and can collapse against the side of the car to leave projections of minimum size.

Still another object isto provide a door which seals tightly against a door opening without re- A further object is to provide a simple operating mechanism for moving the tracks and door toward and away'fro m the car wall.

A still further object is to provide latching mechanism for holding the door securely and tightly in closed position and which can easily be released for opening the door.

The above and] other objects and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent fromthe following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in

which-- Figure-'1 is a partial side elevation of a refrigerator car equipped with a door embodying the invention; I l

Fig. 2 is a partial section on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view ofa latchplate Fig. 4 is a partial section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section similar to. Fig. 4 showing the track in extended position; Figs. 6 and 7 are partial sections on the lines I 6-6 and 1-1, respectively, of Fig. 1;

v Fig.8 islasection on the line 88 .o f1Figj."7;

and V 2 Y Fig. 9 is a partial section on the line,9- 9 of Fig. l.

The invention is illustrated in connection with a conventional refrigeratoncar having an insulated side wall 18 'which 'may be of substantial thickness and which is formed centrally otits length with a door opening; As shown, the'door opening is bounded by metal framework I l which tapers inwardly of the car and which terminates substantially flush with the inner wall of the car. The opening is adapted to be closed by a door panel 12 which may be insulated and which is of substantially the same thickness as the car side wall it so that when the door is closedits inner surface will lie flush with the inner wall of the car. The door panel maybe made up of metal sheets or plates connected together with insulating material between them and preferably tapers inwardly to 'fitloosely within the frame l l. The outer panel of the doorextends beyond the door outline as indicated at E3 to form a flange around the door which is adapted to fit against a resilient seal 14 carried by the'car around the door opening. As shown, the seal I4 is in the form of a rubber U-shaped strip extending completely around the door frame I I and normally projecting out asuiiicient distance so that it willengage and be compressed by. the flange it when thedoor is closed. In this way the door need not fitclosely within the frame H and still an air-tight seal completely around the door will be formed by the sealing strip I4. The door l2 is supported on an upper track l5 and a lower-track 16 which extend along the car above and below the door opening therein. The lower track I6 is intended to support substantially all of the weight of the door and for this purpose thedoor carries grooved rollers I! which rest on the track It so that the door can slide freely on the track. At its upper edgethe door carries brackets 18 having'.upstanding parts it thereon which straddle the upper track I5 to prevent the doorfrom swinging away from the car. Since the upper track carries none of the weight of the door and serves only to hold the door against the car, relatively light brackets, as shown at [9, will sufiice. I

In order to move the door towardland away from the opening, the tracks l5 andlfi are supported for movement toward and away from-the car side wall. As best seen in Figs. 2, land 5,

the upper track has pins 2| secured thereto at orotherwise permanently secured to the car well.

Any required number of levers may be provided to support the track properly. Since the upper track is not subjected to any substantial amount of weight, the levers 23 may be relatively light, as shown. I

central parts of the levers 23 and 2B.

which is secured to the shaft 31.

The lower trackfis similarly supported on a series of levers 26 which are generally triangular shaped and which are secured along one of their straight edges to the car body on spaced pivots 21 adjacent the upper and lower ends of the levers. It will be noted that the spacing between the pivots is substantially equal to the length of the levers so that-the levers will be Supported on a relatively long vertical axis. At their outer ends, the levers 26 carry bosses 28 which in turn rotatably receive pins 29 secured to the track [6; It will be noted that the levers 26 form the sole supports for the track l6. Ordinarily the levers are supported entirely by the pivots 21 so that when they are retracted against the car, as shown in Fig. 6, no parts of the mechanism project beyond the outer car wall a distance greater than the thickness of the lever pivots.

For moving the tracks toward and away from the car body, an elongated control shaft 3| is provided adjacent. one end of the, tracks and carries at its upper and lower ends .short crank arms 32. The crank arms 32 are connected through links 33, as best seen in Fig. 8, to the Preferably, the lengths of the levers between their pivotal mountings to the links 33 are slightly greater than the lengths of the crank arms 32 to increase the mechanical advantage of the crank arms over the tracks and to provide a greater latch effect. With this construction, the crank arms move a distance greater than 90 to move the levers through a full 90? which results in maximum movement of the tracks toward and away from the car. ,An operating handle 34 is provided carried by a collar 35 loosely encircling the shaft 3| and having an enlarged notch therein receiving a projection on a collar 36 This construction provides a lost motion connection enablingthe handle 34 to be swung through aful] 180 while turning the shaft 3| and the crank arms 32 through the desired angle to swing the tracks. Latching devices 3! are provided on the .door I2 and on the car side wall adjacentthe the carzwall and opening at the outer edges of the plates 39 to receive the endsof the latch shafts 38. The shafts 38 are .supportedon the door by slotted brackets 42, as best seen in Fig. 9, which are formed along one side with rack teeth '43. The shafts'38 carry pinions 44 meshing with'the rack teethso that as the shafts areturned they will be moved laterally of theirlength to cause'their ends to travel into the slots 4| from the dotted line-to the full line position shown in Fig. 3. This will press the door firmly against'its opening and will hold-the door tightly closed during running.

The shaft 38 at the right of the door, as seen in Fig. 1, carries an operating handle 45 which may be latched to latch plates-45 secured to the door and to the car wall adjacent the right edge of the door. "As the handle 45 is swung from the position shown to a position overlying the door, the shaft 38 at the right will be caused to move to the left to move-its ends toward the open ends of the slots 4! in its latch plates so that the door can be opened. Movement of the shaft 38 at the right is transmitted to the shaft 38 through connecting links 4! so that all of the latches will be simultaneously latched and released.

7 When the car is in use with the door closed the parts will occupy the position shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 6 with the door firmly pressed into the door opening and thehandles 34 and 45 latched in the positions shown. To open the door the handle 45 is first released and swung over against thedoor to release the latches. Thereafter the handle 34 is swung away from the door over the car wall to rock the levers 23 and 25 outward to move the tracks i5 and I6 away from the car wall. This .operation moves the door out from the door opening to a position where it can be slid horizontally on the tracks out of register with the opening. For this purpose, the levers 23 and 26 are made slightly longer than the thickness of the door panel and car wall so that the door will clear the outer surface .ofthe .car Wall.

It will be noted that when the door is in its closed position there are no parts projecting to any substantial distance beyond the outline of the can Maximum insulation thickness with maximum lading capacity can thereby be provided within the permissible clearance limits.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it will be understood that this is illustrative only and is not intended to be -taken as a definition of the scope of theinvention, reference being had m this purpose to the appended claim.

What is claimed is: j

A door for a refrigeratorv car havinga. relatively thick insulated wall formed with a door opening, comprising an insulated door panel of substantially the same thickness as the car wall I adapted to fit into the opening, elongated tracks extending along the car wall above and below thedoor opening, means mounting: the door on the tracks for sliding'movement therealong into and out of register with the door opening, a plu-- rality of horizontally spaced leverspivoted on' vertical axes on the car supporting the tracks at their outer ends for swinging movement to- -ward and away from the car wall and being of file of this patent: I

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 423,739 Cook Mar. 18,1890 466,164 Gray Dec'. 29, 1891 513,414 Phipps Jan. 23, 1894 565,286 Le Gros'." -Augi4, 1896 2,002,154 Morse May 21, 1935 2,301,444 Olancler Nov. 10, 1942 2,320,216 Brister May 25, 1943 

